Japanese big band signs off

After a 30-year run, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra has played its final chorus in New York, bidding Dewa mata (Japanese for “See you later”) at a sold-out Birdland jazz club before an audience that included fans who had come from as far away as Japan and Italy.

Earlier this year, Akiyoshi had announced that this would be the final season for the big band featuring her husband, saxophonist-flautist Lew Tabackin as its principal soloist, which has recorded nearly two dozen albums, 14 of which received Grammy nominations.